‘Obsession,’ ‘The Pitt’ and ‘Hacks’ Breakout Stars on Industry, AI

A group of rising stars from “Obsession,” “The Pitt,” “Euphoria” and more gathered Thursday to talk about the Gen Z effect on entertainment and navigating careers in Hollywood as part of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation‘s inaugural First Act: Summer Soiree event.

The participants — Patrick Ball (“The Pitt”), Megan Lawless (“Obsession”), Tonatiuh (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”), Caitlin Reilly (“Hacks”), Darrell Britt-Gibson (“Euphoria”) and Courtney Taylor (“Ballard”) — shared their career stories and advice with a crowd of fellow young performers at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Meryl Streep Center for Performing Artists at the union’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

The panel discussion comes on the heels of box officer sleeper hits such as Curry Barker’s “Obsession” igniting the zeitgeist and growing appetite among Gen Z, who are the most active moviegoing demographic.

“We are in this state where it feels kind of exciting because I think we’re starting to see a lot of original stories again, which I think we are so starved for,” Taylor said during the panel moderated by Rochelle Rose, SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s national director of performers programs. “Stuff like ‘I Love Boosters,’ ‘Backrooms,’ ‘Obsession,’ we are so hungry for something new. We’re starting to see that and I think the opportunity that we have there is to lean on that and lean on every story.”

Lawless, who plays Sarah in “Obsession,” explained that she has been waiting for this moment since she was 13. “This is just my dream come true. For me, I finally met the moment where I feel like people want to work with me and are choosing me, and there is a new thing — I have choice now,” she said. “I’ve been very involved with my team, I talk to them constantly. Most everything, if I can make it, like press-related, I say yes to. This moment’s not going to last forever.”

Britt-Gibson, who has also been afforded choice in his career after landing a recurring role on Season 4 of HBO’s acclaimed drama series “The Wire,” is intentional about everything.

“I have sacrificed a lot of money in this industry in terms of projects that I’ve said no to,” he said. “I always think about, ‘Will I be able to sit my future children down and show them something and say I’m proud of it, not that it made this amount of money, not that this many people saw it?’”

Ball, who won an Actor Award as part of the ensemble of HBO Max’s hit medical drama “The Pitt,” has a unique story. He did theater for 15 years before landing the role of Dr. Frank Langdon, while many of the other panelists worked their way up more traditionally through various films and shows.

“What you’re seeing when you see Season 1 of ‘The Pitt’ is you’re watching an educational process for me. You’re figuring out how cameras work, how a set works,” Ball said. “You just got to do, there’s no way to prepare for it. And I’m honestly not the best at it.”

At the end of the panel, Rose brought up AI, which has quickly become one of the industry’s most controversial and hot-button issues.

Reilly encouraged her fellow actors to be “very against” AI: “Everyone keeps telling us that AI is coming for us, it’s happening whether we like it or not. The truth of the matter is that’s a lie. These corporations and billionaires are trying to shove it into our lives, and if we band together and say no, then we can push back. You don’t need to engage with it, you have autonomy. There is community here.”

On the topic of AI, Tonatiuh concluded by giving some practical advice to the room.

“You need to learn how to read a contract, quickly, and get a good lawyer, quickly,” he said when it comes to actors signing away their likeness. “It’s really important that you’re not just an artist, you are running a business. And you cannot sign away by accidentally reading it . Your agent is not going to watch your back, your manager is not going to watch your back. They are looking at the dollar because they want the percent. You need to watch your back.”

(Pictured top: Megan Lawless, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Caitlin Reilly and Tonatiuh at SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s First Act: Summer Soiree event on June 18)